LESSON PLAN Subject: Writing Grades: 2-3 Concept: Students learn how to web, brainstorm, in order to generate ideas and thoughts for creative writing. Teacher Background: Webbing is a way for students to unleash all their ideas without any constraints. It is a fabulous way to break through writer’s block. Students need to realize that not all ideas need to be utilized or incorporated in their writing, but that by brainstorming they can then pick the best of the best for their storylines. Students relish this kind of abandonment, yet truly need coaching and éncouraging, Materials: Webbing template Anticipatory Set: Begin with a picture or a quick sketch of a spider’s web and stick a spider smack dab in the middle. Discuss all that could be caught in the sticky strands, and jot down the ideas all around the web (list all the various insects; list other items: dust, leaves, dew, etc.). Debate which the spider would eat and which she may not. Ask why the spider may not decide to eat all of the items (not hungry, doesn’t like items, not spider food, etc.) Directed Instruction: Explain that one way to pre-write is to create a web of ideas. They may be random, they could be associated, they may be disjointed, or they may be cohesive. Pick a central idea (circus, school, ocean, sky), and write it i paper or a board. the middle of a large piece of Next, tell students that you are going to go around the room and each of them has to say the first (or second) thing that comes to mind when they think of that central idea This rapid fire thinking is called “brainstorming”; the less serious thought, the better!